Call Gunning A Contender

STAFFORD — William Gunning is better known as Bo. They used to call him Billy when he first started racing in the late 1970s at the old Danbury Fairgrounds Racearena.

But at Stafford Motor Speedway, he is and always will be Bo.

``My brother who works on the car, he and my sister are twins,'' Gunning said. ``When they were young, they couldn't say Billy. They used to say something funny and it ended up being Bo.''

Gunning, of Bethlehem, has thrown his name in the race for track champion. His victory in the 50-lap Modified race Friday moved him into third place in the point standings behind the Christopher brothers, Mike and Ted.

Ted Christopher finished second. He fared much better than his brother, who was 19th after hitting the wall on lap 30.

Mike, who finished 22nd last week, leads Ted 520-516 with two races remaining. Gunning, third last week, has 490 points.

Gunning, running third, took the lead by passing Bob Potter and Ted Christopher with six laps left. Potter had led most of the race.

``With Bob Potter, you can run any how and any way,'' Gunning said. ``He'll never rough you up, never hit you, never bump you. It's almost like you feel bad passing him sometimes because you know if you're there, he's going to let you go.''

It's never easy to get by Ted Christopher. Gunning found a way.

``Teddy gave me room a few times,'' Gunning said. ``I radioed in one time and said, `Jeez! Teddy just came from the outside to the inside and almost knocked me off the track.' They said, `You would have done the same if you were in second.' I said, `You're probably right.' Once I got fully under Teddy, he let me go.''

Time Worth It For Fearn

It takes around 20 seconds for a Pro Stock to circle the half-mile Stafford oval. It took Tom Fearn 46 minutes to run 40 laps.

He wasn't complaining, not after his fifth victory of the season. Matt Bushior of Somers was second and J.R. Segar of Enfield third.

The race was stopped twice after two multi-car crashes. Fearn didn't seem to mind, pulling away from the field after both restarts.

Fearn also regained the points lead from Chuck Docherty, 522-508. Docherty finished 11th.

``I think we had a point to prove tonight after getting wrecked two weeks ago,'' said Fearn, who led the final 30 laps. ``Everybody thought, `Well, they wrecked the car. They won't be fast anymore.' '' . . . Dave Ellison of Glastonbury won the 30- lap Late Model race. . . . Tony Hurd won the 15-lap DARE Stocks.